1. Home
2. Conferences
3. 2015 Extension Risk Management Education National Conference

Developing Personal Risk Management Plans forSocially Disadvantaged Producers in North CarolinaStrikeForce Counties

Laurence Crane, Albert Essel, James Hartsfield, and Nelson Brownlee

Summary

Project goal was to assist Limited Resource and Socially Disadvantaged farmers in North Carolina StrikeForce counties in responding to risk, by developing their own personal risk management plans. Applied education consisting of three sequential workshops in both the Lumberton and Clinton areas (6 total) supplemented by personal assignments and individualized counseling was delivered via a partnership of subject matter experts and local educators. Participants were expected to spend at least 20 hours completing homework assignments after each workshop for a total of 60 hours.

The primary outcome was for participants to develop the skills and to understand their own operations well enough to establish a written goal for each of the five areas of risk (production, financial, marketing, legal, human) specific to their farm, delineate for each goal at least three specific actions to reach those goals, and commit to follow through and implement their personal risk management plan.

Educators supported and monitored their progress throughout and interviewed each participant at the end of the project, recording the number of actions completed. Attendees reported spending an average of 67.02 hours completing homework assignments (69.0 hours in Clinton and 66.9 hours in Lumberton).

There were 43 participants who accomplished all actions they had specified in their Personal Risk Management Plans by the end of the reporting period. An additional 15 participants had delineated some actions to be accomplished outside the time frame of the project, such as weaning calves at a later date, and restructuring loan terms at year’s end.

Details

---